So standing before a crowd of close to a thousand people Wednesday afternoon during his induction into the Texas High School Coaches Association Hall of Honor, Bryant made sure to thank the Wildcats of the past.
“For some reason they believed in me,” Bryant said of his Temple coaches and teammates. “And because they believed in me, I couldn’t stop believing in myself. They saved my life.”
During a tearful speech in front of family and a large Temple contingent, Bryant thanked his wife of 49 years, Joycie, and numerous people he has encountered during his 47-year coaching career that will take him to his 20th high school this fall.
It all started with the day his father - a decorated World War II hero who was about to embark on a voluntary tour of duty during the Korean War - helped the younger Bryant tie his things to a Cushman Eagle in San Antonio. The son, then a junior high student, made the solo motorcycle ride down Highway 81 to Temple, where he lived with his grandmother.
“I got to Temple with a chip on my shoulder and a ducktail hairdo,” Bryant recalled. “But (Central Junior High coach) Ed Doerfler worked with me that spring and kept me close to him during that summer.
“Then right before the season started that next fall he said, ‘You know, I’ve never had my best hitter on the football team be a long-hair.’ I got my first flattop the next day.”
When he reached the high school level, Bryant said Wildcats head coach Jay Fikes, line coach Pat Patterson and backfield coach Marcine Cottle continued to help him walk the straight line.
“They were great, true old-school coaches,” he said.
Bryant referred to Temple teammate Don Davis as “my hero.”
“When I was a freshman and he was a junior, he took me under his wing,” said Bryant, who went on to play at Texas A&M, Sul Ross State and Abilene Christian. “And I know a lot of other people told him, ‘Don’t mess with that guy.’
“I wanted to be just like Don. I wanted to be a full-blooded Wildcat just like he was. And when they put his number in my locker my senior year, I cried the way I’m crying now.”
In the Temple graduating class between Davis and Bryant was Bob McQueen, who went on to coach the Wildcats to 243 wins and two state titles. And with 1995 Hall of Honor inductee McQueen in the audience, Bryant wasn’t about to miss out on a chance to mention another former teammate.
“I also want to thank Bobby and his wife, Regina,” he said. “You know him as Coach Bob McQueen, state champion, but he’s Bobby to me.
“Bobby, do you remember when we sat at your kitchen table 47 years ago and wrote down the things we hoped we got to do? Can you believe it’s coming true a little bit?”
Bryant then turned his attention to the Temple throng at the tables in front of the podium.
“And how about all these folks from Temple who came here? Who says school spirit don’t last?” he implored. “How about blue front, white back, baby? How about ‘E’er Victorious,’ Temple Wildcats?”
In wrapping up his induction speech, Bryant asked for current coaches to do for other athletes what his coaches had done for him.
“I challenge you to find some rough-edged, high-maintenance boy and see if you can do something to help his life be better,” the sobbing Bryant said. “And 55 years from now, he might be standing up here as he goes into the Hall of Honor.
“Thank you, coaches, for everything you’ve ever done for me and for all the kids that have come under your tutelage. Thank you to the boys and girls who are fighting for our way of life.
“God bless them. God bless the coaches who did what they did for them. God bless the Texas High School Coaches Association. And God bless our America.”
edrennan@temple-telegram.com
